Re: [Harp-L] Just Intonation for Blues?

[Joe and Cass Leone <leone@xxxxxxxx>]

On Mar 19, 2008, at 1:38 PM, Winslow Yerxa wrote:

> One way to deal with this is to tune a single reference draw note  
> (Like Draw 2) something like 2 cents sharp, then tune all the draw  
> notes in reference to that note.
Ok, I finally have a question for the Wizard. When you say 2 cents,  
what (exactly) IS that? I mean, let's say you have a Seiko-1000 and  
it reads 50cents plus or minus and the little divider lines are at 5  
cent increments. Do you consider 2 cents as 2/5ths the way to the  
FIRST line on the sharp side? Also, if'n you have the tuner  
calibrated to 442, are you STILL at 442 but an infinitesimal amount  
sharp on top of THAT?

> One potential problem is that to keep your octaves in tune, this  
> also means raising the draw notes that don't bend (or at least not  
> much). Those notes may come out sounding sharp, and so will the  
> octaves that include them.
>
> For instance, you might tune Draw 3 and Draw 7 a bit sharp as a  
> result of using a riased Draw 2 as a reference. If you habitually  
> pull Draw 3 down a little bit, even when you're not trying to bend,  
> and then you either play Draw 7 by itself or as an octave with Draw  
> 3, the pitch is going to be higher (same goes for Draw 4/8 and  
> 5/9). So your completely unbent, unadjusted (by playing technique,  
> I mean) draw pitch has to be within the range of comfort, i.e., not  
> too sharp.
>
> Winslow